I saw ur bernard post, and im not a bernard hater, but i think the reason most people dont like his character is because he has consistently bad writing. Fitzmartin isn't a good writer, and his character suffers from it. TD;R is famously trash, and his appearances in Urban Legends & Pride issues aren't really interesting either. People don't like Bernard because he has never been written interestingly.
Cults are a topic explored in comics often enough, so basing your argument for people's dislike of Bernard being tied to him being part of a cult is silly when comic readers have read cult plots many times. We also have had characters associated with cults be close to Tim before — Cassie with the Cult of Conner and Danny with Cult of Kobra. Both of these characters are still liked despite that association.
Again, the reason people dislike Bernard is because Fitzmartin's writing is ass. She doesn't know how to write an engaging story or character. She makes both Tim and Bernard incredibly bland and uninteresting.
(Her borderline misogynistic writing for Steph doesn't help either. Breaking up one of the most popular bat relationships off panel and then having her be super excited to meet Bernard was so stupid and some of the worst characterisation for Steph, and that's impressive.)
I think the best comparison for Timber as a ship is Jonjay. Modern Bernard and Jay were both introduced around the same time and were both heavily hated. Though with good writing, Jonjay managed to garner fans, and their relationship is genuinely interesting. While Timber continues to float in a pool of blandness.
People would like Bernard and Timber if it was written well, but not once has it been.
i totally get where you're coming from but i have made other posts about bernard! i'm aware cults are talked about and have been explored, some people still don't know how to take topics foreign to them, though! ofc i dont actually think that's the ONLY reason people don't like him, and rhe writing may not be the best (and the writer defo sucks in general) but delving deeper into what IS there is nice, he's just a college student trying to cope with trauma from a bad coping mechanism and horrible parents, he definitely needs better writing and he may not have the best writing wt the moment but seeing timkon fans hating him just because he gets in the way of timkon gets on my nerves 😭 he didnt get brought back up THAT long ago and people need to give him more time, which he hasn't been given because .. he hasnt shown up in comics (other than yhe valentines special that im not counting because it was HORRIBLY ooc for everyone)
he deserves better writing and depth and i like him a lot based off of what we do have, wven if its not a lot and the writing isnt the best
seeing so much homophobia from people is crazy aswell, ive seen people dog on tim being bisexual and saying bernard was brought back just for that but .. its been hinted that tims bisexual before bern was brought back 😭
anyways yeah bernard needs better writing and more fleshed out story i am well aware just a bunch of hate for him stems from timkon shippers and homophobia! the cult thing definitely wasnt a FULL reason, but i have seen people hating on characters they cant resonate with?? cults are foreign to a lot of people, theyre not going to fully understand a character whos trauma stems from a cult and it is another reason people probably have for hating bernard, though i doubt those are the haters on tumblr
i feel like i should mention im NOT hating on timkon, i like timkon, but a majority of timber/bernard haters are timkon lovers who aren't open to new characters/love interests for tim
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